The mother of the Washington, D.C. man who was suspected of shoplifting and fatally shot by two officers last week says her son was unarmed when he was killed and is demanding “the truth” come to light.
Timothy McCree Johnson, 37, was a father of two who loved fashion and clothing design and wanted to go to barber school to get his life back on track after serving time, his mother, Melissa Johnson, said.
He had previously pleaded guilty to theft and assault charges and had been convicted on federal gun charges.
Melissa Johnson’s now trying to piece together the events that led to his death Wednesday, but so far, police have released few details.
“We just want to know what happened. We want to know the truth,” Johnson said.
She called out police for speculating whether her son had a gun and “villainizing him” before the investigation was complete.
On Monday, police confirmed that no gun had been found after the incident. “The search of the area has concluded and no weapon was found,” police said.
“He made a mistake. But at some point those who are sworn to protect and serve should not have the right to be judge, jury and executioner at the same time,” Johnson said.
What happened before the shooting
Loss prevention officers responded to the Nordstrom at the Tysons Corner Center shopping mall in Fairfax County, Virginia, about 6:30 p.m. Wednesday on a report of a man suspected of stealing designer sunglasses, police said.
Police Chief Kevin Davis said Wednesday night that two department officers — one uniformed and another in plain clothes — approached the suspect, who fled and launched a foot pursuit.
Timothy Johnson ran through the parking garage and lot into a wooded area, “while the officers gave him commands to get on the ground,” police said.
“While in the wooded area, two officers discharged their firearms, striking Johnson in the chest one time,” police said. Johnson was taken to the hospital, where he was pronounced dead, officials said.
It’s not clear what caused the officers to open fire.
“At some point during that chase, something happened that is still under investigation that prompted our two Fairfax County police officers to discharge their firearms,” the chief said last week.
Melissa Johnson is seeking more transparency.
“I just thought it’s so strange that you don’t want to say the officers’ names. You don’t want to give details. You don’t want to admit that you didn’t find a weapon. But you begin to start painting this picture to villainize [Timothy’s] name,” she said.
The chief initially said Wednesday that he didn’t know whether Timothy Johnson had a gun. Five days later, police revealed no weapon was found.
“My son didn’t have a gun. He did not harm any patrons at the mall. … He didn’t have a knife. He probably didn’t even have a cellphone on him,” Melissa Johnson said.
The chief said that Johnson was “very well known” to law enforcement in the area and had an extensive criminal history.
His mother said that her Johnson did have a criminal history — but not in Fairfax County.
“He did jail, he did his time. But even just to villanize his story, villanize the integrity of the investigation before it even gets underway was just harmful to the family,” she said.
Timothy McCree Johnson had no cases in Fairfax County, according to online court records.
In Maryland, he had several charges, mostly traffic citations over the years.
In 2003, he was charged with second-degree assault and theft over $500, pleaded guilty and was sentenced to seven to 10 years in prison, according to online records. In 2015, he was given a 90-day suspended sentence and three years’ probation after he pleaded guilty to a charge of theft of less than $100, online records show.
In federal district court in D.C. in 2006, he was convicted on felony gun charges — possession of an unregistered firearm and unlawful possession of a firearm and ammunition, online records show. In that case, he was sentenced to 4.6 years of incarceration followed by three years of supervised release.
Where the investigation stands
The officers involved in last week’s shooting have not been identified, but were described as seven- and eight-year veterans assigned to the Tysons Urban Team. Department policy state that their names will be released within 10 days of the incident.
They have been placed on restricted duty status pending the investigation.
A criminal investigation into the use of force is being conducted by the Major Crimes Bureau. An administrative investigation is also underway by the department’s Internal Affairs Bureau, and there’s also an independent review by the Office of the Independent Police Auditor, which reviews police investigations involving use of force and complaints against the Fairfax County Police Department.
Body camera footage of the incident will be released within 30 days, according to department guidelines.
A father trying to ‘find his footing’
“Timothy was my first child, my only son,” Johnson said. “This was a person who was loved, who was a father, who was a brother, who was a cousin.”
He had a 12-year-old son and a 9-year-old daughter.
Johnson said her son was “trying to find his footing.”
“He had some demons, he had some things from the past. He has been to jail before, he did his time,” she said. “I even feel like societywise we just need to do better to support people. He needed to be in some type of daily maintenance program or something that could give somebody returning home from prison, some support and accountability.”
She said her family has “suffered a lot of tragedy and loss,” but she is grounded by her faith in God and hopeful for the truth to come forth.
“That’s my only prayer that the undoctored, unadulterated truth will to come to light and they will accept responsibility that protocol wasn’t followed, procedure wasn’t followed,” Johnson said. “From the moment somebody was made aware that something was stolen to this end result — does the end justify the means? It does not.”
Source: | This article originally belongs to Nbcnews.com
